🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <20110405.2233.11040014snz@i-m-t.demon.co.uk>
           v$af$ppint@i-m-t.demon.co.uk "ppint. at pplay" writes:

>         - hi; in article, <4d9b4a3d.34427860@news.albasani.net>,
>                          KGB enquired:
> > p.s. Off topic, but my last few messages to this thread have been
> > difficult to send - I keep getting the message "Error reported by
> > server. 441 header line too long."  It is just when replying to follow
> > up posts and my fix is to "reply" to the first post in the thread. Any
> > ideas anyone??
> 
>         - it's a software failure triggered by a header line going
>         over the space allowed for it (which space differs from one
>         newsreader to another) and failing to trim that header in
>         the appropriate rfc/usefor-mandated (or even -compatible) way.
> 
>         - iiuc, newserver software should not alter the References:
>         header line of articles it picks up and passes on.

Except in the manner you mention below, of course

>         - the References: header line is the line most likely to
>         trigger the software failure in newsreaders.

Indeed.  This line is not likely to blow the 1000 character limit for 
any header line in a busy thread.   And whilst not apparently the case 
in this thread, Googlegroups Message-Ids are _huge_ so it doesn't take 
many follow-ups to expose defects in newsreading software. (Google 
groups have IMO a fairly cavalier attitude to 'quoted-printable' too, 
but that's another issue...)

>         - the correct (i.e. rfc/usefor-mandated) way to trim the line
>         is to drop sufficient whole news article-ids from immediately
>         after the first id, through to e.g. the most recent half dozen
>         or so message-ids, which should be retained intact and in their
>         original sequence, thus allowing correctly-designed threading
>         newsreaders to place your article in its correct place in the
>         correct branch of the correct thread, and follow-ups likewise.

One is also supposed to insert some extra spaces where msg-ids have 
been excised, but I've not noticed a newsreader that does this.

>         - i don't know of a newsreader that handles trimming header lines
>         correctly - i suspect there isn't one that does - nor of one that

I know of at least one -- YT's hack of Snews :-)  Though I'd be very 
surprised if there are not others; Turnpike for example.

>         (also an rfc/usefor correct option) allows the line to continue to
>         expand indefinitely; though Simple News may do this latter, and it
>         certainly makes trimming the relevant message-ids manually simple.

Which is what I used to do until I got fed up character counting back 
in the days when d.i.s.pc used to have _long_ threads...

>         - hth, hand - tdwsc!
> 
>         - love, ppint. (n.b. follow-up set to uklc)

(Have followed up this to d.i.s.pc only)

>         pp.s. - the spacing between the message-ids in the References:
>                header line should be at least one foldable white space,
>                but bizarrely appears to be permitted to include comment
>                or other text, so long as this is separated from the ids
>                between which it is interpolated by at least one foldable
>                white space.  i have no idea why this is permitted.

Indeed -- header line space is precious, so why waste it?  My hacked 
Snews processes only message ids in the required format [<....>].

Pete
-- 
   "We have not inherited the earth from our ancestors,
    we have borrowed it from our descendants."